The invention relates to a vacuum roll for conveying webs and, more particularly, to a vacuum roll having several segments each of which being able to convey a separate web resulting, for instance, from a main web split into several webs of smaller wide.
Webs such as polymeric foils (like polyester foils) or other sheet materials are manufactured in a continuous process and the final products are wound up on rolls for storage and transportation. On such production lines or on converting rewinding machines, vacuum rolls may be used to transport, pull, guide (or even dry) the web.
Those vacuum rolls are known in the art for a long time.
However, on the production line or on a converting equipment, the web may be split into several lanes and each lane may have to be transported, pulled or guided individually, at a speed different from the speed of the other lanes.
The object of the present invention is to provide a segmented vacuum roll each segment of which is rotatable independently from the other segments so that each segment drives a respective web at an own speed according to the need of the process.